


Comfortable

by Cephy



Category: Leverage
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 11:23:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8284120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cephy/pseuds/Cephy
Summary: Takes place behind the scenes between S05 E11 and E15. In which realizations are come to, discussions are had, and promises are made.





	

Hardison is a few steps away, following Nate and Sophie in their usual grand departure, before he realizes that Parker isn't moving. That Parker is, in fact, firmly planted and looking back at where Eliot is flirting with the woman who runs the grocery store. There's a look on Parker's face that Hardison doesn't quite recognize, and that's saying something because he has made a full and detailed study on the faces Parker makes. Sometimes it's his only warning of things like "about to be thrown off a building", so he figures it's a worthwhile field of research. And it lets him look at Parker a lot, so, hey. Win-win.

He backtracks until he can bump her shoulder. "What's up, babe?"

Parker keeps on staring fixedly as she answers. "Why don't I like it that Elliot's flirting with the that woman. I mean, I haven't really liked it the last few times, but this one I really, really don't like for some reason."

"Because," Hardison says without thinking, "the last few, while gorgeous, were obviously temporary. This girl is sweet, and domestic, and Eliot has spent this entire job talking about growing up in a small town and sounding so damned nostalgic about it that it's easy to imagine him thinking about settling down here."

Parker is staring at Hardison now instead, her eyes wide with awe. "Yes, exactly," she says. "You don't like it either, then."

"Uh. Guess not."

"I don't want him to leave," she says, turning to look at Eliot again. "I don't want him to ever leave. Hardison, how do we make sure he never leaves?"

"Let's talk about this later, babe, okay?" Eliot is walking towards them now, and it's not a conversation they need to have in front of him. Bad enough that Parker is still staring, with sufficient force to make Eliot look at her quizzically. After a second she smiles a little too bright-- an Alice smile if he's ever seen one-- and flounces off after Nate and Sophie. 

Eliot turns his look on Hardison instead, questioning and a little alarmed because Eliot knows Parker and isn't stupid. Hardison can only shrug.

_She's finally realizing that she's jealous, man_ , he very carefully doesn't say. _She's finally realizing that she's been jealous for a while now, and I'm not sure where that's going to lead._

***

She waits until they're all the way back home before looking at Hardison expectantly; she's learned that _talk about it later_ is some kind of code for _talk about in private_ , though why he can't just say that if that's what he means she 's never figured out.

They've talked about Eliot before. Sometimes in the bedroom. She was pretty sure she knew where they stood on the matter of him so she's not quite sure why they have to talk about it more now instead of enacting a plan before he can go on more dates with that woman and get any stupid notions about leaving. But that sort of thing really is more Hardison's area than hers so she's willing to let him take the lead for now.

Eliot can't leave. He belongs there with them, cooking and complaining about Hardison and punching people for them and and being ridiculously squishy when dealing with kids and flexing all of those muscles when he trains in the back room. Eliot is an intrinsic part of the world that's formed itself around Parker the last few years, one of the key pillars in what makes her feel safe and anchored and not like she used to when she stuck around one place for too long. He can't leave, that's all there is to it.

"So? How do we make him stay?" she asks, though she's got some ideas already and most of them have to do with how she's caught Eliot looking at them all soft and wistful sometimes, and how much Hardison goes nuts when she uses her strap-on, and how often lately Parker has imagined herself curled up between them on the couch or in bed.

Hardison is looking at her like he knows exactly what she's thinking-- which he might, he's crazy smart and they really have talked about Eliot before although maybe not quite like this. Not like maybe they could actually make it happen. "Okay," Hardison says slowly, "lemme just make absolutely sure we're talking about the same thing here. By stay, you mean stay with us, like _with_ us, like all three of us doing what you an' me do right now. That kind of stay?"

Parker doesn't even have to stop and think about it. "Yep."

A bunch of emotions chase each other across Hardison's face. Parker can't quite follow them all and doesn't try, just focuses on figuring out the one at the end, because that's usually the one that matters. It's a little bit uncertain and a little bit frowny but a whole lot like maybe he's seen something he wants and is working out some overly-complicated plan to get it.

"That's not exactly something that most people do. You really think he'd go for it?"

Parker thinks of the wistful looks. Thinks about the fact that Hardison's weird foods still end up on the menu. She remembers the spread of Elliot's fingers on the back of Hardison's neck when they were chasing down the gas bomb, and the way Eliot had carried her around without fuss after she'd hurt her knee.

"You don't?"

Hardison thinks for a second as well, then gives a little huff of a laugh, smiling crookedly. "Guess we'll just have to ask and find out."

***

The thing is. Hardison probably would've gone to bed with Eliot after that very first damned job, if circumstances had been different. The way Eliot had taken down all those guards in a matter of seconds-- _damn_. Hardison has always had a thing for really competent people and also sometimes really dangerous people, and Eliot being both at once had left Hardison uncomfortably aroused right in the middle of a job. 

But he'd learned early in life that hitting on buff white boys didn't always end well. So he kept his mind where it was supposed to be, finished the job, and resisted the temptation to clone Eliot's phone before they parted ways (okay, no, he totally didn't, but he resisted the temptation to actually use it for at least a little while). And then there'd been the whole thing with the double-cross and the almost getting blown up, and Hardison did realize pretty quickly after that that Eliot wouldn't punch him with extreme prejudice for making a move but by then they were working together as more than just a one-off and he didn't want to make things awkward. Somehow it had just never gone past the realm of the hypothetical. Even if maybe sometimes he felt like both of them were just waiting for some kind of signal or excuse to go there.

And then there had been Parker. Hardison is happy with Parker. Blissfully, unrealistically happy, and he would never do anything to jeapordize that. The first time that Parker had casually mentioned Eliot while they were alone together, Hardison had maybe panicked a little, thinking that he'd fucked up. But no, it was just Parker admitting in her own unique way that she'd thought about Eliot as well, that she'd thought about all three of them together--

Hardison had really never thought he could get that lucky, but there it is.

Still. They kind of have a status quo by this point, and it's hard to break. Hardison and Parker are together. Eliot dates a lot of women (and men, he doesn't advertise those as much but this is why Hardison has surveillance gear), they do jobs and run the pub and everything is just kind of _comfortable_. Comfortable enough, anyway. 

Parker's right, though, it's probably time to put up or shut up, because Eliot never dates the same person more than a couple of times but eventually he's bound to find one that sticks, it isn't fair to expect him to be lonely forever. And Hardison figures there's probably a whole new range of comfortable they can get to if they try.

Eliot's face, when they corner him in the kitchen after closing, the night before the launch of Nate's big scheme, is a weird mix of wary and affectionate. "You two finally going to spit out what's been making you so weird the last few weeks?"

Hardison lets Parker take the lead, because sometimes her brand of blunt honesty is the best way to get things done. "We want you to stay with us. Move in upstairs, sleep in our bed. Stop dating other people. Please," she adds as an afterthought.

Under different circumstances, Hardison would have found the dumbfounded look on Eliot's face utterly hilarious. Eliot stares at Parker, wide-eyed and blinking, then flicks his eyes over to Hardison.

Hardison just smiles at him, ignoring the butterflies trying to eat through his rib cage. "You heard the lady."

Eliot takes a careful breath and shifts his shoulders, looking almost like he's getting ready to take a punch. "Not that I'm really complaining, but what brought this on?"

"Nate's gonna leave," Hardison confesses after a second, ignoring the twinge of guilt because, shit, they're gonna find out soon enough anyway, if they hadn't already figured it out on their own. "The team's gonna change. We just-- wanted to get this out there for consideration, before it changes in some way that can't be changed back. Or, uh, something like that."

"Before you leave too," Parker clarifies.

All of Elliot's air seems to drain out of him at once, along with that tension in his shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere," he says quietly. "Not as long as you want me here."

Parker's face goes bright and happy in the space of a heartbeat. "Good," she says, and darts forward to wrap her arms around Elliot's chest, tucking her head under his chin.

Eliot catches her with an _oof_ that is probably just for show. "You know you guys don't have to-- uh, do anything you don't want to do just to get me to stay, right," he says after a moment, awkward.

"I've thought about having sex with you since our very first job," Parker replies immediately, voice partly muffled by Elliot's shirt. "So has Hardison."

Eliot looks at Hardison. Hardison shrugs and nods.

"This whole-- _emotions_ thing is newer and I don't usually know what I'm doing when it comes to having a boyfriend," Parker goes on. "I'm probably going to have even less idea what to do with two boyfriends. But I'm sure we can figure it out."

"She's better at it than she gives herself credit for," Hardison says loyally, then decides that Parker has a damned good idea and goes to put his arms around the both of them. Eliot is warm and solid and smells a bit like basil or something from the dinner service-- it's nice. Better than nice. It feels like comfortable could maybe level up to something that Hardison hasn't even imagined possible before, and he is so looking forward to seeing just how far that could go.

"Well," Eliot says, and his voice is soft and warm. His hands settle at the small of Hardison's back, at the nape of Parker's neck. "All right, then."


End file.
